The year 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of naturalist Charles Darwin and the 150th publication anniversary of The Origin of Species, the book in which he set forth the theory of evolution. Dean’s lecture is part of the “Darwin at 200” series of events produced by Bates and the Lewiston Public Library to illustrate the theory’s importance to our understanding of life on Earth and to human culture.

The talk is open to the public at no cost.

A visiting curator and scholar at Cornell University, Dean is the author of Charles Darwin: After the Origin (Cornell University Library and the Paleontological Research Institution, 2009), a book accompanying a major exhibition of the same title, mounted by Cornell and the Museum of the Earth, examining the 22 years that followed publication of The Origin of Species.

As an editor of the massive “Correspondence of Charles Darwin” project at the University of Cambridge, Dean spent almost 14 years reading piles of letters to and from Darwin. She has contributed to more than six volumes of the work.

Before earning her doctorate in history of science from The Johns Hopkins University, Dean worked as a forest hydrologist in the Rocky Mountains, later also studying acid mine drainage in Arizona. Her foray into the biological sciences included research of native and exotic desert fish.

]]>http://www.bates.edu/news/2009/02/27/darwin-200/feed/0Darwin anniversary series continues with Flock of Dodoshttp://www.bates.edu/news/2008/10/29/flock-of-dodos/
http://www.bates.edu/news/2008/10/29/flock-of-dodos/#respondWed, 29 Oct 2008 12:59:05 +0000http://batesthisweek.wordpress.com/?p=1421The year 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of naturalist Charles Darwin and the 150th publication anniversary of The Origin of Species, the book in which Darwin set forth the theory of evolution.

During the 2008-09 academic year, Bates College and the Lewiston Public Library are commemorating these anniversaries with Darwin at 200, a series of events illustrating the importance of Darwin’s theory to our understanding of life on Earth and to human culture.

All Darwin at 200 events are open to the public at no cost. For more information about this screening, please call the library’s reference desk at 207-513-3135. For more series information, please visit the Darwin series Web site.

In February (date, time and venue to be determined), the series presents the British Broadcasting Corporation documentary A War on Science. Also from 2006, this piece examines the 2005 court case against the Dover, Pa., school board, which attempted to inject intelligent design into the public school curriculum. The film presents commentary by proponents of both evolution and intelligent design.

Science historian Sheila Ann Dean presents the lecture “Charles Darwin: After the Origin and Before the Descent,” focusing on Darwin’s correspondence relating to his Descent of Man and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. A visiting scholar in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University, Dean speaks at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, at a Bates location to be announced.